Guys, There Are Southern Lights and They Are So Stunning

Thanks to this viral proposal and, you know, every travel bucket list ever, you're probably familiar with the Northern Lights. But what about the Southern Lights? We didn't know about them until recently either. Apparently, they're almost identical to the lights you can view from places like Iceland and some parts of Canada, except these views are strictly isolated to the highest points of elevation in Antartica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

These beautiful lights occur when solar winds bring electrically charged particles from the sun into the atmosphere. Then, natural gases and Earth's magnetic field combine with these particles to create a range of colors, including green, orange, pink, purple and even gold. This is what the natural phenomenon (also known as the Aurora Australis) look like in Australia. Gorgeous, no?

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The lights are best observed during the darkest time of the year and on the darkest nights, which is what makes winter the ideal time to book a trip if you're hoping to catch a glimpse. Another way to get close and personal? Jump on a chartered flight. Recently, 134 passengers took off from New Zealand to catch a peek of these mesmerizing lights and spent roughly $1,400 per ticket (yikes).

But this video of the flight proves that that their splurge paid off — big time.

Here's another look at the lights from the Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-114 mission. Apparently, the higher you get, the more amazing the view. We'd definitely pay big bucks to see these bands of light from space. Your move, NASA.

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